Ms Can't Still This Trekker's Spirit

Miramar — A doctor once told Hassan Oji to get used to the idea of a wheelchair.

"You'll need one in six months," he said. But Oji refused to believe he would lose the use of his legs.

"I guarantee you, it will not happen," Oji said. It didn't.

Eight years have passed since the doctor's well-intentioned but faulty prediction. Not content merely to prove his doctor wrong, Oji, 57, a tai chi instructor from Miramar who suffers from multiple sclerosis, put the strength of his legs to the test this year by taking a walk.

For 2,160 miles.

"I started on a Tuesday, March 25, at 11 a.m.," said Oji, who returned home Thursday night after spending 23 weeks conquering the Appalachian Trail, a nature hike that stretches from Georgia to Maine. He reached the end of the trail last Tuesday, Sept. 2, at precisely 11 a.m.

"Oh God, it was awesome," he said.

Along the way Oji, who used the hiking name "Healer," estimates he met about 2,000 people, fellow hikers who joined him at different parts of the trail.

He told them how he started hiking in his native city of Shiraz, Iran -- elevation 4,500 feet -- but stopped hiking when he moved to the United States in 1976. He talked about living in South Florida and becoming a tai chi master. And he talked about the day in October 1995 that would suddenly and drastically challenge his health.

"I had just moved here," he said, popping a grape into his mouth at his home near State Road 7. "I was standing at a Mazda dealership not far from here and just like that, I couldn't see. My right eye completely lost its vision. I haven't seen out of that eye since."

Doctors were perplexed. They could see the symptom: The optic nerve in Oji's right eye was damaged beyond any hope of recovery of sight. But what caused it? A neuroophthamologist suspected MS and warned Oji that its debilitating effects would also leave him wheelchair-bound.

Other doctors disagreed, and Oji went through several regimens and prescriptions. No one else suggested a wheelchair.

Oji then recalls a day in November 1997, when he was standing near the Palmetto Expressway talking to some friends and his legs inexplicably gave out. He found himself looking up and bewildered.

Finally, on June 5, 1998, the vision in his left eye went out. This time doctors were able to restore some vision, but he remains legally blind.

A neurologist verified the diagnosis of MS. He prescribed an anti-depressant and told Oji to take three a day.

Oji took one pill. The rest are in a bottle in his medicine cabinet.

He spent five months in what he described as deep meditation in 1999, and then began an alternative form of treatment called bee sting therapy. His eyes close and he breaks into a wide grin when recalling the relief he felt when getting stung by a bee. He practiced it for four years.

Oji also became a founding member of the Hollywood MS support group run by the national Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, which is based in Fort Lauderdale.

Last year, Oji remembered his hiking days in Iran. And he began plotting.

"There was a time I wasn't able to walk more than two miles without pain," he said. "I couldn't stand up for more than 20 minutes."

He determined to regain his strength. He took longer walks. He ran a half marathon in Miami in February. His twin goals were to raise awareness of MS and to purge its symptoms from his body, even if it was only temporary.

On March 25, with a backpack filled with dried food, a tent and water, he started his walk from Springer Mountain. He went through 14 states, through Virginia's Shenandoah Valley and the Delaware Water Gap in New Jersey. He savored the rainy days, when the cool rainwater would make the walk easier. His legs gave out one day, and his ankles a few days later. He used duct tape to strengthen his ankles.

"From the very first shelter, eight miles into the hike, people were dropping out," he said.

Oji didn't.

For information on donating to or becoming involved with the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, call 888-673-6287.

Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4207.